Michael Brissenden presents AM Monday to Friday from 8:00am on ABC Local Radio and 7:10am on Radio National. Join Elizabeth Jackson for the Saturday edition at 8am on Local Radio and 7am on Radio National.

More Current Affairs:

Program Archive:

Saturday 23 September 2006

AM is Australia's most informative morning current affairs. It covers the stories each morning that the other current affairs teams follow for the rest of the day. Below is the program summary with links to transcripts and audio (if available).

Turkey a model Muslim state, says Costello

The Treasurer Peter Costello will today use a speech in Canberra to indirectly send a message to the Muslim community by talking up the importance of the separation of established religion and state. Extracts from the Treasurer's speech have been published in the Murdoch press today. At the Australian Christian Lobby's annual conference this morning, Mr Costello is expected to criticise Muslims who engage in violent struggle to create governments whose prime authority is Islamic law or Sharia. The Treasurer will tell the Christian audience that Ataturk's creation of a secular Muslim state in Turkey is a model which should be adopted by the modern Islamics.

Bush taken aback by 9/11 threat

The President of the United States says he's taken aback by suggestions his administration threatened to attack Pakistan after September the 11th. Pakistan's President, Pervez Musharraf, says a senior US official warned Pakistan would be bombed "back to the Stone Age" if it didn't aid the so-called "war on terror". The claim's caused verbal gymnastics at the White House, and underscores some of the tensions that complicate the US-Pakistan relationship.

Hezbollah leader rejects UN demands

The Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has emerged from 10 weeks in hiding to appear at a rally in Beirut, to celebrate what he says was a victory over Israel in the recent conflict. Hundreds of thousands of Hezbollah supporters attended the rally to hear Nasrallah's defiant speech in which he rejected UN demands for his guerillas to be disarmed. The Hezbollah leader claimed that he now had more than 20,000 rockets to defend Lebanon, despite an arms embargo. The reaction from Israel has been swift.

Thai protest passes without incident

The first rumblings of public dissent over this week's coup in Thailand have passed without serious incident. A small group of protesters last night staged a rally in the centre of Bangkok, in spite of martial law that restricts gatherings of more than five people. It comes as the coup's military governing council tries to find a candidate to take over as the country's interim Prime Minister.

I was hired by Brethren to dig dirt: detective

It sounds a bit like a plot from a Dan Brown thriller; the case of the Prime Minister, the private eyes and the religious sect. But across the Tasman this week, truth has been stranger than fiction. First Helen Clark claimed a smear campaign aimed at her and her husband has been organised and orchestrated by the Exclusive Brethren. Now a private detective has confirmed he was hired by the Brethren to try to dig up dirt on Labour. But he also says the New Zealand Government is doing the same thing to its political opponents.

Armed offender cases could be appealed, says lawyer

Victoria's Police are still reeling from a week that's revealed shocking evidence of police brutality, and the news is only getting worse. This week a secretly recorded video was played to a Police Integrity hearing, which appears to show detectives from the armed offenders squad bashing a suspect in their custody. The head of Legal Aid in Victoria has told Saturday AM there are potentially thousands of cases dealt with by the now disbanded squad which could now be subject to appeal. And in the lead-up to the November State election, police misconduct now appears to be a key issue. But the Victorian Government says it won't bow to pressure to shut down its police watchdog.

Cairns Group sidelined, says former trade official

A former director-general of the World Trade Organisation says the Australian-led Cairns Group of farming nations has been sidelined by other trading blocs. The Cairns Group conference finished yesterday, without securing a breakthrough in the struggle to resume the stalled Doha trade round. Instead, the meeting ended with a call for the trade talks to resume in November. Critics say it's time for a new approach to world trade.

Peacekeeper stress

New research shows that soldiers involved in peacekeeping missions are just as likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder as soldiers engaged in armed combat. A James Cook University psychologist, Dr Alistair Campbell, is conducting a survey of Australian peacekeepers who've returned from overseas missions to establish their current physical and emotional state. He says peacekeepers are often confronted with the horrors of war but because they're unarmed they're prevented from responding.